My Reviews

Just Plain SuperiorRated 5 out of 5 stars

After wrestling unsuccessfully for goodness-knows-how-long in trying to 'print' webpage content to a .pdf file, it suddenly occurred to me that there might exist a FireFox add-on which could save my head from exploding.

I was trying to 'print'/save information from a webpage - something I had been able to do in the past using Acrobat Pro/Distiller and Firefox, but this time, more content existed on the webpage which I finally figured out was causing the problem.

During multiple failed attempts, I noticed that Acrobat Distiller hung in creating the file at 25 pages. That seemed to be the tweaking point with FireFox/Acrobat Distiller. Try to 'print' from a webpage to .pdf resulting in a document exceeding 25 pages and Firefox crashes while Acrobat Distiller hangs and hangs and hangs and...

I stumbled onto this add-on, read the glowing reviews, installed it, and created a 39-page .pdf document almost immediately. EVEN MORE AMAZING, the resulting .pdf document this add-on created contained multi-layer bookmarks, page numbers, and content-related header/footers.

I started using FireFox years ago when the security holes in Internet Explorer were not being adequately addressed. Over time, I became more attached to FireFox because of some of their amazing add-on tools.

The Print Pages to PDF add-on is one of the more sophisticated tools on FireFox. I say 'sophisticated' because the user doesn't have to wrestle with relatively complex developer/programmer-type components. Some thought should be given, however, to configuring user-preferences. Several preference configs are available and easy to switch. At the minimum, I recommend un-checking the default external links box (and local links box as well), otherwise the document will be filled with hyperlinks trying to take the reader to the original website which can be extremely annoying. Hyperlinks in a .pdf can be removed with Adobe Acrobat software, but un-checking the links box in Print Pages to PDF works even better and doesn't require buying and learning Adobe Acrobat. I also recommend checking the print media box because the resulting .pdf document is easier to read. You'll have to play around with what works for you,

This is a high-quality add-on and one that folks doing online research will find useful to the extent they won't be able to live without it. Simply said: it works really, really fast and really, really well.

Amazing (and scary)Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I decided to install Adblock Plus even though there were conflicting reviews because there were so many users. I installed it a few weeks ago and really didn't notice a difference until I encountered a small and IMMEDIATELY FIXED (by Adblock Plus) problem - Adblock Plus was perceiving a part of my office's web-based email provider as an ad when that part being blocked was actually the text input for email responses. I submitted an issue report and, within less than 15 minutes (REALLY!), I received an email back from Adblock Plus showing the fix and, when I went to Time Warner's Business Email page (it's my employer's choice - not mine), I had no more problems. Heck, I'm an accountant and live 'on the cloud' and use over a half-dozen online pieces of software to do my job. I can guarantee you, not one of those applications (well, maybe one) would have responded to my issue as fast as Adblock Plus. So that's the amazing thing. The amazing AND scary thing was that, while I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my web-based email problem, I looked at all of the scripts of all of the sites that Adblock Plus had blocked in just the few weeks since I had installed it. When I thought about it, I realized how my online existence had become much less encumbered as a result of Adblock Plus. Plus, my online existence has become so much more pleasant because my brain is not being peppered by crap - all thanks to AdBlock Plus. Yep, an add-on worth paying for (which I did - happily).

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Handy, handy, handy - especially if you do a lot of online research, are the curious type, or simply paranoid.

It (the country flag) displays unobtrusively at the right side of the address bar. You might not use it much at first, but the more you glance "up there" for website country-of-location identification, the more of a healthy surfing habit it will become.

Life will never be the same.Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My core philosophy in life is: "You can never not know what you know".

Use this add-on and your life will never be the same. I'm going to pay more attention to Mozilla Firefox's "featured" add-ons from now on.

I installed Ghostery two hours ago and now realize what guys must feel during a proctology exam. Because of Ghostery, I know that nearly everywhere I go on the internet is being CONSTANTLY monitored - not for security purposes, but for commercial purposes. I frequently manually delete third-party cookies implanted by using Mozilla's privacy options tool. I just hadn't realized that these little tracking suckers were so busy.

Navigate to a website and somebody wants to know about it AND to remember it. Leave that website and the same somebody wants to know about that, too, AND remember it, too.

Jeez and fer cryin' out loud! I officially have a case of the "willies" - thanks to Ghostery and what it has told me so far.

Ghostery unobtrusively displays how many out of how many things it is blocking (in the tiny lower right corner of your screen) as it temporarily displays the names of any sneaky thingies it's found in the upper right corner of the screen - look quickly, though, because (so as not to intrude on the quality page viewing experience) Ghostery displays the names in a crossed-out text and then fades them from view. Click on the teeny-weeny Ghostery icon on the lower right corner of your screen and you'll have a wealth of information: Number of blocks, what is being blocked from which currently accessed sites, and something about who these sneaky, er, curious organizations are and what [and why] they do.

I can't believe Ghostery is free and so, well, quiet - almost like a ghost. No poltergeists here - nothing flashy, pop-uppy, advertise-ey... Simply and very, very quiet.

I'm a Google fan - have been long before folks initially thought Google might be something that came out of your nose - but I realize now (and I guess everybody needs to make a buck) that, well remember that procologist? His name is Dr. Google. Oh, and let's not forget his nurse - Nurse Web Trends.

Get this thing (Ghostery), even though it will make you nervous. The Ghostery's little ghost icon is smiling, although I don't know why - Ghostery is serious business if your privacy means anything to you.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I love this thing - even purchased "premium" version for $12/year. Cannot rate the premium version yet, however, since I haven't figured out how to use it. Still, it is a surprising time-saver as well as comfort knowing all my log-ins are encrypted. I only started using this about six weeks ago and it operates like a third hand in my internet usage.